Brandon Knight's day in the sun: Pitch for Mets or Olympic baseball?
Three months ago Brandon Knight was nearly out of hope, clearly out of options and all but out of the american league baseball.
"He was going to quit," said his father, Mike Knight.
Instead, Knight signed with the Somerset (N.J.) Patriots of the independent Atlantic League, one of the few places where a 32-year-old journeyman pitcher with 19 innings of major league experience and a losing record in the minors can still find work.
But then a funny happened. Brandon Knight got good. Really good. The offers came quickly. First from the New York Mets, who in May gave the right-hander a chance to pitch in the minor leagues. Then USA Baseball, which offered Knight a spot on the Olympic team. A week later it was the Mets again, this time offering Knight a chance to take Pedro Martinez's place on the mound at Shea Stadium during a pennant race.
Mike Knight, who taught his son the game's fundamentals on the fields and sandlots of Oxnard, remembers how crazy a time that was.
"It's almost too much good news all at once," he said. "He was ready to get out of the game and all of a sudden got back in and now all kinds of great things are happening."
Knight may be on the mound when the Olympic baseball tournament opens Wednesday, when the Americans face South Korea, a semifinalist in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. His manager, however, is keeping that last part a secret.
"We do have a starting rotation figured out," said Davey Johnson, who used to manage the Dodgers, "but in international play, I found out that nobody wants to tell us who they are pitching. So I'm going to be mum on that subject."
Knight took a long and often tortuous path to potential Olympic glory. Selected by the Texas Rangers from Ventura College in the 14th round of the 1995 draft, he spent much of the next 13 years pitching in the minor league systems of the Rangers, Yankees and Pirates. He had two brief stays in the majors with the Yankees, giving up more runs than he had innings pitched, then spent three years in Japan. None of it appeared to be leading anywhere, though, so each winter Knight would do some soul-searching. "This last year was the same kind of thing," his father said. "Do I do this again or not?"
Eventually Knight decided yes, and his tenacity has been rewarded with the best summer of his career, one in which he led the Atlantic League in strikeouts through six starts before jumping to the Mets' triple-A affiliate in New Orleans, where he was 5-1 with a 1.60 ERA in 11 games. Johnson sees Knight as a guy who can have a good influence on the young staff, with one big bonus. "His numbers are really off the chart," Johnson said. Selecting him "was kind of a no-brainer."
Truth be told, the decision wasn't as simple for Knight. The Mets' call-up, 10 days after he was named to Team USA, threatened to derail his chance to pitch in Beijing because players in the majors aren't eligible for the Olympics. After so many seasons in which he had largely felt unwanted, suddenly Knight was presented with two once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. But when the New York game Knight started lasted 14 innings, the Mets, desperate for bullpen help, designated him for assignment, clearing his way to return to the Olympic team.
"It was probably the weirdest feeling I ever had in baseball, just being so unsure about what I would rather do," he said. "Would I rather go to the Olympics? Would I rather go to the big leagues? I obviously haven't been to the big leagues in five years. But I'm never going to get a chance to go the Olympics again. Bottom line, the most important thing for me and my family is to be in the big leagues," the father of two said. "I'm not going to make any money going to the Olympics. Of course it's a great honor. But I need to think about supporting, feeding my family.
"That being said, this whole Olympic thing, it's such an honor. And it's so cool to have a chance to do it. It's a no-lose situation. As far as my age, I didn't think that there would be a chance at all. I didn't even think about being in the Olympics. So it couldn't have worked any better. Go up there, pitch in the big leagues, and then come back and do this."
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
Pair of Rays minor leaguers suspended by MLB
New York, NY (Sports Network) - American Major League Baseball suspended Tampa Bay Rays minor league outfielder Cesar Guillen and infielder Victor Henriquez 50 games after each tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance.
Guillen tested positive for Ephedrine and Henriquez tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol.
Both players are members of Tampa Bay's Dominican summer league team.
The suspensions are effective immediately.
1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Why Is the National League So Inferior to the American League?
If you have ever wondered which league, the AL or NL, is better, there's no debate. The answer is obvious: the American League Baseball.
There are 10 teams in the AL with records above .500, and only four teams with records below .500. In the NL, there eight teams with records .500 or better, and eight teams with records worse than .500.
There are FOUR teams in the AL East with records equal to or better than the leader of the NL West. If the NL East-leading New York Mets were placed in the AL East, they would be fourth. If they were placed in the AL Central, they would be third.
The AL has four out of the top-five records in baseball. The NL has three of the worst four records in baseball. The AL has won (or tied) the past 12 All-Star Games. The AL has swept three out of the last four World Series. All of this data shows that the NL is vastly inferior to the AL.
So, I'm just wondering: Why?
A lot of this comes back to the Red Sox and Yankees. Their high payrolls have motivated (forced) the other teams to spend more to keep pace. That motivation has led to teams constantly trying to upgrade their clubs and improve. That creates a ripple effect that has spread across the whole AL. Everyone is now under constant pressure to get better, or else they will fall out of contention. On the other hand, there is no such pressure in the NL. The NL West is an extremely mediocre division, as shown by the Padres making the playoffs one year with only 82 wins.
Teams know that the other clubs aren't pushing the limits, and that there isn't as much of a need to improve. It takes less effort to make the playoffs in the NL, so teams don't have the incentive or motivation to go out and strive to make their clubs better. The bar is set much lower.
Also, the AL is a better-designed league for hitting. The DH has allowed AL teams to develop prolific offenses that NL teams can't even sniff. The quality of offense of teams like the Tigers, the White Sox, and the Red Sox isn't found in the weak-hitting NL.
Those are just some reasons I see for this AL domination. I'm asking you: Why do you think the AL is as dominating as it is?
Copyright 2008 Bleacher Report, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
C.C. to Brewers reflects have-nots' hopes
The meek have inherited the girth. The Milwaukee Brewers, occupants of baseball's second-smallest market, landed the largest and most coveted commodity on the midseason market yesterday with the acquisition of His Hefty Leftiness, the 290-pound Cy Young Award winner, C.C. Sabathia. Milwaukee? Milwaukee! Seriously. Happy Days, indeed.
"It excites me," Padres pitcher Jake Peavy said yesterday. "I'm tired of seeing (Johan) Santana go from the Minnesota Twins to one of three teams that can supposedly pay him. You know what I mean? When you see a team that is not a huge market team seeing their window of opportunity and saying, 'Let's push this thing,' I would hope that says the game of baseball itself is in good shape."
Revenue disparities continue to undermine baseball's competitive balance, but parity has made a startling comeback this season, crashing previously exclusive parties and making off with much of the silverware. The Tampa Bay Rays dropped the word "Devil" from their name and are finding deliverance after a dismal first decade in the daunting American League East Baseball. Yesterday's loss left the Rays four games better than Boston, 8 and half ahead of the USD 209 million New York Yankees and still owners of the best record in baseball. The Florida Marlins, whose USD 21 million player payroll is less than half that of Tampa's (baseball's second-smallest), remain in second place in the NL East, one game up on the USD 138 million New York Mets after last night's 3-1 victory over the Padres.
Yet for sheer audacity, Milwaukee's blockbuster was hard to beat. Twenty-six years removed from their last postseason appearance, the Brewers have dared to dream in high-def. They have made the sort of bold and costly move normally the province of the high-budget ballclubs. They have recognized a narrow window of opportunity and are taking panes (pun intended) to pounce.
"Milwaukee's been on the cusp," said Padres closer Trevor Hoffman. "They got close last year. They obviously feel that this is their opportunity. To get C.C. before the break to get settled in, a proven pitcher, reigning Cy Young in the American League Baseball, I think that tells you a lot about what they expect themselves to be able to do. It tells you, too, that it's now possible for a small-market club to cover a USD 90 million payroll; that there are still some baseball executives prepared to mortgage tomorrow in order to cash in today; and that the Chicago Cubs have fresh cause to fear that their century-old world championship drought may continue.
"I think they're the favorite," Peavy said of the Brewers, loudly enough to engage teammate Randy Wolf. "Dude, they've got Guaranteed Win Day running Ben Sheets and C.C. Sabathia out there. That's guaranteed. That's two of five days you're winning. "Why is C.C. Sabathia 6-8?" Wolf wondered. Peavy stuck to his premise, citing Cleveland's season-long difficulties and Sabathia's shrinking earned-run average. "He's a guaranteed win," Peavy repeated. "In the National League, he's going to dominate."
Wolf countered by invoking Santana, the two-time American League Cy Young Award winner who has managed only a split of his 14 decisions with the Mets. The animated debate was reminiscent of two buddies arguing from adjoining bar stools, but it was nonetheless notable. How long has it been since anyone mentioned the Brewers in connection with "Guaranteed Win Day?" Rarely in baseball's recent history has money been such a poor predictor of happiness. Baseball's three highest payrolls, the Yankees, Mets and Detroit Tigers are collectively six games over .500. The game's three lowest payrolls, Oakland, Tampa Bay and Florida are plus 32. Now we know how Cornwallis felt when the rag-tag American colonists routed his elite British regulars at Yorktown, and why the redcoat band reputedly serenaded that surrender ceremony with, "The World Turned Upside Down."
Some of the success of these upstarts may prove cyclical. Much of it may prove unsustainable. Once young players produce, they expect to get paid. Once young players start to draw significant salaries, they tend to gravitate toward larger markets. Yet expanded revenue sharing has clearly made more clubs competitive than was the case 10 or even five years ago, and it has contributed to seven different World Series winners in the past eight years. It has made small and midmarket teams less likely to dump payroll in July and more likely to dare as the Brewers have done.
Milwaukee General Manager Doug Melvin packaged four prospects most notably last year's No. 1 draft choice, Matt LaPorta to rent a pitcher who will cost close to USD 5 million for three months and who will be eligible for free agency when the season ends. Melvin did this knowing that Sheets, too, is in line to test the market this winter. You've got to admire Melvin's guts, particularly if you've grown weary of waiting for the Padres' big move.
"People enjoy dynasties, but I think everybody wants their shining moment," Hoffman said. "For baseball to ultimately improve the product on the field, it needs to be done in cities that need it. Tampa is on the verge of getting a new ballpark. Milwaukee they've had to trade away some popular players, but every time they've brought back people that have added to their core. They've gotten deeper."
Now, with C.C. Sabathia, they've gotten bigger. And a whole lot better.
Copyright 1995-2008 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Major League Baseball Taking Shape
It's the middle of June and by now we know who are the contenders and pretenders in the American Major League Baseball. Teams have had time to work out any preseason kinks or postseason hangovers. This is the time of year we can begin to make some solid predictions on who will make the playoffs. Let's start with the American League.
The American League East is arguably the most competitive of the divisions. As of June 15 each team has a record above .500 and each has a reasonable shot at making a run for first place. Toronto sits in last place one 7.5 games back, and with Ortiz on the DL for the Red Sox the division is wide open. As of now though Boston, and the surprise of the year Tampa Bay, sit atop the division. With the Yankees having a down year the Red Sox should eventually run away with the division, with or without Ortiz. In the Central, Chicago's "other team" sits 4.5 games up on the second place Twins. The White sox, behind hostile manager Ozzie Guillen, lead the division mainly by default however. They are the only team with a winning record and have had a mediocre season at best. However, unless Cleveland can turn things around, the White Sox should have no problem being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.
As for the smallest division in baseball, the Angels lead the four team race in the West. They have done so with consistent pitching from Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana. Oakland is the only other team in the division with a shot at the playoffs and can do so with increased performances by slugger Jack Cust and pitcher Rich Harden. Oakland is a team that can catch fire quickly and could very easily take over the division. As for the National League, the Phillies reign over the East. With the surprise struggles of both the Braves and the Mets, Philly looks to be in total control of the division. Despite Chipper Jones' .400 batting average, the Braves just can't seem to get anyone to produce around him. And with the Mets' continuing off the field problems as well as their on field blunders, it looks as though they will have to make some serious midseason trades or they'll be watching from home come October.
The Chicago Cubs lead the National League Central, as well as the entire Major League. They have impressed everyone with their strong line-up and consistent pitching staff. The Cardinals are the only other competitive team in the division, however just recently lost All-Star Albert Pujols to injury. With Pujols out, the Cubs could be the favorite to win it all with the pick-up of a solid starter before the trade deadline. Just don't tell anyone in Chicago. They won't believe you. The National League West is the worst division in baseball with the leading Diamondbacks having merely a .536 winning percentage. Last year's Cinderella, the Colorado Rockies, are in last place with only a .397 record. This division should be easily won by the D-backs, mainly because they look like the only ones trying.
With the All Star break nearing, the league has a good idea of who is competitive and who is dropping out of the race. However, teams like the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers could all make runs depending on what they are willing to spend by the trade deadline. The only problem is finding something available. The Indians have hinted that C.C. Sabathia could be on the trading block if the offer was good. The Mets could make a serious run win him in their rotation. Lucky for us, there is a lot more baseball left, so we'll just have to sit back and watch.
2006 The Seahawk
Rangers revisit their roots in D.C.
The late Commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to keep it from happening, moving heaven and earth to stop the moving vans heading for Texas. He had a deeply personal stake in the matter, having grown up in Washington D.C., and having worked as a scoreboard operator at Griffith Stadium for the original Senators. But the Washington Senators II were doomed from the start, having been hastily thrown together after the original Senators had packed up themselves and moved to Minnesota. When the American League decided to expand, on Oct. 26, 1960, they awarded the Senators franchise to General Elwood Quesada, a retired Air Force officer who at the time was head of the Federal Aviation Agency, and the first-ever expansion draft was held less than a month later.
With hardly any time to prepare, the Senators enjoyed only one winning season in 11 miserable years in the nation's capital before the American League finally granted them permission to move to Texas on Sept. 20, 1971. Now, almost 37 years later, the Rangers are going back to their original home. They open a three-game series with the Washington Nationals on Friday at Nationals Park. It will be the Rangers' first appearance in Washington D.C. since the franchise moved in 1971.
"We had a lousy team, and no one came to watch the games," said Tom Grieve, who played in Washington and moved with the team. "But we loved playing in Washington. You'd go to the ballpark and drive by the Washington Monument or the Capitol. It was pretty fun. Everybody liked playing there. When it was announced that we were moving to Texas, I don't think many were excited moving to Texas. We were disappointed leaving Washington. It was only once that we got here that we found out it was a great place to live and raise a family, and that there were affordable houses and places to live near the ballpark."
Arlington mayor Tom Vandergriff had been trying to bring baseball to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for over a decade before the Senators moved here. In the early 1960s he had relentlessly courted Charlie Finley, who desperately wanted to move the Athletics out of Kansas City, and ultimately relocated to Oakland. Vandergriff also tried hard to get a National League expansion team, but Judge Roy Hofheinz wanted Texas all to himself and blocked the bid. Instead, the franchise went to San Diego. That was in April 1968. The Senators' road to Texas really started on Dec. 3, 1968, in San Francisco. That's where Major League owners met and approved the sale of the Senators to Minneapolis businessman Bob Short, who had been the treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.
Short controlled a lot of money for the Democrats, but little of it was his own. He hired Ted Williams as his manager and the Senators had their one winning season in 1969. They dropped to last place in 1970 and then lost 96 games in 1971, while drawing 655,156 fans. Short was losing money and badly wanted out. Washington D.C. was a one-industry town that had been hit hard by the urban strife and unrest of the late '60s. The crime rate was going up. By April 1971, Short was threatening Kuhn, saying that he would move the franchise and that nobody could stop him.
"If we're to save Washington, everybody has to give something: Me, the players, TV and the federal government," Short told Kuhn on one late-night telephone call. "Maybe things might work out in a Cinderella way, but that's not likely." Kuhn tried to save D.C. by finding local ownership, but couldn't find anybody. Bob Hope was on his list. The legendary comedian had tried to buy the Senators in 1968, but lost out to Short. Now, he was no longer interested. Kuhn tried the hotel magnate Willard Marriott, and Sonny Werblin, the New York Jets' owner who signed Joe Namath. Both said "No." National corporations like General Motors, Ford, ABC, NBC, Philip Morris and Coca-Cola also weren't interested. A supermarket guy and the doctor who invented Chloraseptic tried to put a group together, but was too little and too late. The tireless Vandergriff had done a superb job of salesmanship, and the American League owners were convinced. The final vote was 10-2, with only the Orioles, their owner was allied with Kuhn, and the White Sox opposing the move. Kuhn thought of blocking the move, but elected not to despite his deep bitterness.
"Dallas-Fort Worth belonged, but not at the cost of a second Washington franchise," Kuhn said in his memoir, Hardball. "Nor did it make any sense to leave a major growth area like Washington and the surrounding Maryland-Virginia suburbs. The area had not failed; management had been unable to provide attractive baseball."
The end came 10 days later. There were 14,460 fans in the stands when the Senators played the Yankees in their final game at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.
"If there was no general wet-eyed melancholia in the stadium, there were still unmistakable pockets of bitterness," Shirley Povich wrote in the Washington Post. "From the upper stands hung banners spelling out four-letter words in large design, all of them reviling club owner Bob Short for shanghaiing the team to Texas."
The Senators were leading, 7-5, with two out in the top of the ninth when several hundred fans started swarming the field. First base was stolen and that was it. The game was called and the Yankees won by forfeit. The Senators were on their way to Texas. Now, 37 years later, they are going back again.
2001-2008 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
More baseball? Maybe Burnsville is the place
A plan to marry Twin Cities baseball past, the Millers of minor league baseball with a new ballpark in Burnsville to create a new regional attraction will be introduced tonight.
That's when the Burnsville City Council will get its first look at a proposed USD 27 million, 7,300-seat stadium for the Metro Millers, which would also bring the independent Northern League back to the metro area. The developers, Tony Pettit, 30, of Lakeville, and Terry Deroche, 62, of Prior Lake, say they have private equity and debt financing arranged to acquire, develop and build the 13-acre project on a former dump site at the intersection of Interstate 35W and Hwy. 13. But they want the city to underwrite related road and sewer improvements using bonds that would be paid back with increased tax revenues from the appreciating land.
The Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently authorized Burnsville's use of tax-increment financing (TIF) for a new mixed-use development in the area. In 1998, the state authorized a special TIF district for the development of an amphitheater, but that project foundered amid environmental concerns. The new legislation repeals the older TIF district.
"We're asking for zero money from the government to help with the project other than public improvements," said Pettit, who has options to buy some of the land. "The Northern League wants us to be ready by 2009."
Clark Griffith, a Minneapolis attorney and son of former Twins owner Calvin Griffith, is commissioner of the Northern League, the oldest of the independent minor leagues. He said the league is looking to expand from its current six teams to 10 teams.
"This is an excellent opportunity," he said Monday. "One of the most important things for me is the support of the city and the promoters."
The Twin Cities metro area is an "obvious choice" for a new team, Griffith said, because of the Northern League's history here. The St. Paul Saints were part of the league from 1993 until 2005, when they joined the American Association. (The Saints have the second-highest average attendance per game, about 6,200, in the independent minor leagues.)
Love idea, worry about details. The developers are pushing Burnsville to help them meet the 2009 deadline, a goal that may not be feasible, according to city staff members. But several City Council members said they love the idea of a stadium that would draw visitors and their money to the city, help revitalize industrial land near the Minnesota River and provide affordable entertainment where families could spread picnic blankets on the grass and root for a hometown team.
"'We've got a long way to go, but on the surface, from what I've seen, it's one of the most exciting projects to come to Burnsville in a long, long time," said Dan Kealey, a City Council member. Mayor Elizabeth Kautz said the stadium proposal comes in the midst of major civic efforts, including construction of a USD 20 million, publicly funded performing arts center, to turn Burnsville into "the metropolitan city south of the Minnesota River."
The stadium would be built in a 1,700-acre chunk of the city along the Minnesota River where poor soil and intensive industrial use have created a development challenge for city leaders seeking to redevelop the land after activities such as quarrying end. Pettit, whose 73-year-old father played minor league baseball, said he and Deroche, a small-scale developer of hotels and other land projects, have spent two years on the ballpark proposal. They plan to acquire up to 200 acres for office and retail developments near the proposed ballpark. Northern League teams play 96-game seasons during the good-weather months.
Touch 'Em All Sports, a limited liability corporation formed to own the Metro Millers, essentially would succeed the old Minneapolis Millers team, which started in 1884. The team spent 60 years at Nicollet Park on Lake Street in south Minneapolis before moving to the former Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. The Millers folded after Calvin Griffith brought his American League baseball to Minnesota from Washington, D.C., in 1961. The Twins moved to the Metrodome in 1982.
A lucrative market
The developers say there are more than 1 million people within 8 miles of the busy Burnsville intersection, just across the Minnesota River from Bloomington. And the demographics are similar for other successful Northern League cities, where 65 percent of households have an income of USD 75,000 or less, and 82 percent of residents are younger than 50. The developers have retained DJR Architecture of Minneapolis. Pettit said the stadium construction would include recycled building materials, powered by a wind turbine that would generate enough juice to feed power into the electric grid most of the time.
City Council Member Dan Gustafson said the stadium would help Burnsville offer the best of suburban and city life.
"Burnsville is a good suburban community, and we're fortunate enough to have a downtown, and we're fortunate enough to have some of the amenities that the core cities have as well," he said. "But we still get to go home to our suburban neighborhoods. Not everybody gets to do that."
2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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